


next time

by potterthepoltergeist



Series: Writing Comps [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Getting Together, Hogsmeade, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:01:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29708553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potterthepoltergeist/pseuds/potterthepoltergeist
Summary: hogsmeade dates are just the right amount of cliche.this is my submission for round one of a writing competition run by @marauding.wolfstar on instagram! the prompt for this round was the get-together of a ship of your choice.
Relationships: Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Writing Comps [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2183307
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	next time

"Hey, Pads."

Remus slid into the booth across from Sirius, cheeks flushed and nose pink with the winter cold. His cable-knit beanie was just a tad crooked on his curls, and five seconds into the interaction, Sirius already thought he was going to combust.

"Sorry I'm late," Remus mumbled. "Herding third-years with Lily took ages."

Sirius coughed, even though there wasn't so much as a tickle in his throat. "Are, um, James and Pete coming by at all? Or the girls?"

"Maybe the girls'll come, but James is having a walk with Lily, and Peter's in Honeydukes, so. He'll probably be there for a while." Remus drummed his fingers on the table, once, twice, before he looked up suddenly. "Have you been here very long? Oh, shit, Pads, I didn't mean-"

"You're fine," Sirius said quickly. "D'you want to order anything?"

"Oh." It was strange how startled Remus looked at the question. "Uh, a butterbeer would be nice. If you want, I can-"

"No, it's fine. I can go up."

Sirius slid out of the booth, pretending that he wasn't watching Remus twiddle his thumbs out of the corner of his eye.

-

"Oh. Thanks, Moony."

Remus gave a small smile as he held open the Three Broomsticks' door. Its bells jingled softly behind them as it swung shut again. Frosty snow crunched under their shoes as they made their aimless way through Hogsmeade.

"You've got, um." Sirius tilted his head up to face him and pointed towards his upper lip. "Just a bit-"

Remus's eyes went a little wider, and he brushed his lip with the sleeve of his coat (entirely missing the butterbeer foam). "Did I-"

"No, it's just here."

"Here?"

"Nope."

Another wipe, another miss.

"No, gods, just-"

"I'm starting to think there's nothing on my face." And for god's sake, there was that mischievous smirk Remus got, the one he only saved for Sirius these days, the one that sent a tiny rebellious flutter in his chest. (It was even more endearing because of that speck of butterbeer that refused to go away.)

Sirius shook his head, laughing softly. "I swear, it's right-"

It was like his brain didn't quite catch up with his arm.

Like some bizarre, out-of-body experience where he was watching himself from someplace far away, screaming  _ no, Sirius, you idiot, don't do that. _

But his traitorous hand practically raised itself on its own, and before he could object, he was brushing Remus's lip with his fingertips.

The frozen breaths that had been puffing out of their mouths stopped.

"Um, it's gone now." Sirius shoved his hand back in his coat pocket and silently cursed his poor impulse control.

Remus nodded carefully. "Thank you."

"No problem."

-

"Are you-"

"I'm not getting anything today," he shook his head.

Remus stared at the sweet-filled shelves. "Okay. Well, if you want, we can just-"

Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes. "You can buy some chocolate, Moony."

He looked defensive for maybe a millisecond until the expression melted into something like- well, like a kid in a candy store.

It was kind of nice, Sirius thought, to watch Remus's eyes flit over the shelves, to watch him unconsciously fiddling with the loose thread on his mittens and absentmindedly biting the inside of his lip. It was enough to admire him admiring something else.

Remus's muttering to himself jolted Sirius out of his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Nothing." Remus waved his hand dismissively. "It's just that they have literally every kind except the one I like."

Sirius blinked. "It's right there. At the bottom, isn't it?"

"Oh." It was Remus's turn to blink. "Thanks, Pads."

"No problem." At this point, Sirius was starting to feel a bit like a broken record.

Five small chocolate packages were taken off the shelf and paid for. The cramped state of Honeydukes made the entire process slow going, but eventually, the two made it out of the store. They could just make out Peter through the shop window, pacing anxiously in front of a pile of boxed licorice wands.

Fresh snow fell on Remus's beanie, dotting it with specks of white and the palest silver. He wrinkled his nose as a snowflake brushed his freckles.

Sirius's heart rose into his throat.

-

"How's, um, Beth?"

"Beth?"

"The Hufflepuff? Oh, did you two break up?"

"Uh, yeah." Sirius had been distracted by the fact that their shoulders kept brushing every two seconds.

"Fuck, I'm sorry for-"

"Don't worry about it."  _ I like someone else, anyway, _ he could've added. He might've done it if he had the courage.

But he didn't.

-

"It was just-" James let out a content sigh and flopped back onto his bed. "I swear, I will never get tired of Hogsmeade dates."

Peter stabbed in his general direction with the tip of his licorice wand, chewing loudly. " _ Was _ it a date, though, because she brought Mary along, so-"

"Bugger off, Wormy, and let me have my fantasies," James huffed.

Peter rolled his eyes and turned back to his candy.

"Did you have fun?" Sirius asked quietly from his place at the foot of Remus's bed.

Remus peered over the edge and smiled. "Yeah. I mean, it wasn't the big group we usually have, but it was still nice."

"Yeah."

Maybe he could summon a little bit of that courage.

"Would you want to, um-" Sirius turned around to tap lightly on the footboard. "Would you want to do it again sometime? Just us?"

Remus's brow furrowed. It might have been his imagination, but Sirius could've sworn he saw his cheeks go pink. "Like-"

"Like a date," Sirius finished, blurting out the words faster than his mouth could swallow them back down.

Except now Remus's eyes really  _ were _ wide, and his knuckles were going white on the footboard, and  _ curse these self-sabotaging tendencies. _

"Forget it, I was just-"

Remus swatted Sirius's head gently. His face was still red, highlighting every freckle and scar, but he managed a smile. "No takebacks."

Sirius's mouth fell open. He quickly clamped it back shut and attempted to smile, too. For all he knew, it came out more like a stunned grimace with the levels of both shock and excitement he was feeling, but it only made Remus smile wider.

"Next time?"

"Next time."

**Author's Note:**

> come scream at me on tumblr @potter-the-poltergeist :D


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